The group's president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, tells The Associated Press that the choice of the conservative Virginia attorney general with a vivid record of anti-abortion action was an easy call. She calls it "hands-down the most important election in the country right now."

Cuccinelli last year forced the State Board of Health to back away from exempting existing Virginia abortion clinics from a new state law that holds clinics to the same architectural standards as new hospitals.

Cuccinelli is unopposed for the GOP nomination in May. Democrat Terry McAuliffe has no rival for his nomination.